Portable drying rack



Nov. 23, 1948.

H. F. KUEI -IN PORTABLE DRYING RACK Filed July 1, 1947 HENRY F. KUEHN Smaenfor (Ittomegg Patented Nov. 23, 1948 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PORTABLE DRYING RACK Henry F. Kuehn, Seattle, Wash.

Application July 1, 1947, Serial No. 758,445

4 Claims.

My present invention relates to the general art of clothes drying and storage racks and, more particularly, to a, portable drying rack.

With the general change in living conditions, wherein large masses of our people live in rather congested districts, there has been an increased demand for foldable drying racks, which may be employed for the drying of laundry in general but, more particularly, for small items of underwear, socks and stockings, table napkins, handkerchiefs and like small articles. These the housewife normally prefers to launder herself, rather than stock up with the number of such items that would be necessary were she dependent upon laundry service.

While many racks have been produced to this very apparent need, those observed have been characterized by being bulky or difficult to store and they also take up a large area when in use. Other types of racks are of the foldable type, which require considerable ingenuity on the part of the user to unfold them and, after use, to fold them up again. The majority of these racks occupy considerable floor space when in use, as they are intended to set on the floor. It is to overcome the many deficiencies of the various types of drying racks observed that I have created my portable clothes drying rack.

The principal object of my present invention, therefore, is to provide a clothes drying rack which is very compact when folded, so that it may be stored easily and conveniently in a small space.

A further object of my invention is to provide a storage rack that can be opened very conveniently by one unskilled in such constructions and which, when unfolded, unfolds all the various elements at one operation.

A further object of my present invention is to provide a storage rack which will automatically unfold if the same is hung, as on a nail.

A further object of my present invention is to provide a clothes drying or storing rack which may be used by setting it on its own feet and which will under such circumstances occupy the minimum of space.

A further object of my present invention is to provide a collapsible portable clothes drying rack which is characterized by such simplicity of construction that it may be economically produced for general use.

Further objects, advantages and capabilities will be apparent from the description and disclosure in the drawings, or may be comprehended or are inherent in the device.

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In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of my clothes drying rack, showing the same standing on its own feet, in a position of use.

Fig. 2 is a front plan or elevational view showing my portable rack in its folded position.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view, partly in section, intended to illustrate the pivoting arrangement by which the various clothes supporting arms are secured in either the position of use or in the folded position.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view showing in elevg tion the easel or foot-supporting member taken in the area about its pivot point.

Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 55 of Fig. 1.

Referring more particularly to the disclosure in the drawings, the numeral l0 designates generally the main frame of my drying rack. This may be formed of any suitable material, such as metal or plastic; however, at present, plywood of medium thickness seems to be the most allaround desirable material from the standpoint of cost and workability. Member ID is bifurcated so as to provide the central slot l2 and the two side members 14 and I6.

Adapted for limited reciprocation within the slot or guideway I2 is a slidable tongue 18. Tongue [8 needs to be provided with appropriate means for so engaging member ID as it moves through slot l2 that it will lie in the same plane as the side members I4 and I6. Throughout the illustrations I have shown this as being achieved by a bevel cut at 20 and 2| on the slide member, and the corresponding bevel cuts 23 and 24 on members [6 and M respectively. This bevel cutting, together with the overlapping member 26 which is fixedly secured to the slide or tongue 18 and overlaps members It and I6, and the fixed tie member 28, which is fixedly secured to members l4 and iii to form a restraining guide means for tongue 18, has been found adequate to secure the tongue in slidable relationship with body II]. It will be apparent it is believed that if the body and slide l8 were to be formed of metal or plastic, that suitable guideways might be formed within such materials to achieve the same end result, namely, that the front surface of members l4, l6, and I8 should lie substantially in a common plane.

Pivotally secured at regularly spaced intervals on the outer surface of side members [4 and I6, is a plurality of eye bolts 30, which are probably best illustrated in Fig. 3. The eye portion of bolt 30 should be of such a size as to but loosely engage the hanger rods or bars 32, so that the same may easily slide therethrough. I then provide on the inner side of eye bolt 30 a shoulder or washer 34 and then, after the shank portion 36 of bolt 30 has passed through its supporting member M or I 6, a second washer is employed, as 38. This washer is put in place and the tubular portion or shank 36 is headed or otherwise deformed so that member 36 forms a free-to-revolve journal or pivot for eye bolt 30.

Reference is made to Figs. 1 and 2 particularly, in which it will be observed that eye bolts 30 are disposed in transversely arranged pairs, one of each pair being in member l4 and the other in member [5. a pair of dowels or rods 32 and 33, which are slidably disposed within the eye of eye-bolt 30 and are coupled together at their centers, and also are coupled to tongue I8 by means of the square ring 40, and this construction is probably best illustrated in Fig. 3. The rings 40 are normally passed through rods 32 and 33 and through appropriate holes in slide i8, while the ring is in a U-shape, and then the ends are bent inwardly, as is illustrated by the arrows in Fig. 3, so as to form a reasonably flexible but secure anchor for the inner end of rods 32 and 33.

In using my rack, it may be hung on a nail from hole 42 positioned in the upper end of slide l8. Then if body I is grasped and pulled downwardly until stop 21, secured to slide 18, contacts tie member'ZS, the side members l4 and it will be displaced with respect to slide 18 so that the supporting rods 32 and 33 will be outwardly extended after the showing of Fig. 1. This has been a convenient way in which to use my device; however, there are many instances where it is desirable to stand the unit on some form of selfcontained footing, and to achieve this I have provided an easel-type support member 44, consisting of two side members as 46 and 41 which are fixedly connected together as by means of bar 48. At their upper ends, side bars M and 41 are pivotably secured to members I4 and I6 as by bolts or screws 59, which pass through outstanding lugs 52, which lugs in turn are fixedly secured to members l4 and 16. The preferred form of footing is shown in Fig. 1, so that in effect, four separate feet are provided for the device. This has proved to be a most satisfactory arrangement.

It is believed that it will be clearly apparent from the above description and the disclosure in the drawings that the invention comprehends a novel construction of a portable drying rack.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A portable drying rack, comprising: a main frame having connected parallel side members; a slidable tongue disposed for limited reciprocation between said side members; guide means adapted to position said tongue between said side members and insure that the front surfaces of said tongue and said side members lie in a common plane; pairs of oppositely positioned These are so positioned as to accept hanger rods; pivot means adapted to pivotably secure the inner ends of said rods to said slidable tongue; pairs of transversely disposed eye-bolts pivotably secured to said side members and adapted to slidably engage said hanger bars and means for supporting said rack in a substantially vertical position.

2. A portable drying rack, comprising: a main frame having connected parallel side members; a slidable tongue disposed for limited reciprocation between said side members; guide means adapted to position said tongue between said side members; pairs of oppositely positioned hanger rods; pivot means adapted to pivotably secure the inner ends of said rods to said slidable tongue; pairs of transversely disposed pivot members pivotably secured to said side members and adapted to slidably engage said hanger bars and means for supporting said rack in a substantially vertical position.

3. A portable drying rack, comprising: a main frame having connected parallel side members; a slidable tongue disposed for limited reciprocation between said side members; means adapted to position said tongue between said side members consisting of deformed edgeson each side of the tongue and on the adjacent sides of the side members; pairs of oppositely positioned hanger rods; pivot means adapted to pivotably secure the inner ends of said rods tosaid slidable tongue; pairs of transversely disposed pivot means pivotably secured to said side members and adapted to slidably engage said hanger bars and means for supporting said rack in a substantially vertical position.

4. A portable drying rack, comprising: a main frame having connected parallel side members;' a slidable tongue disposed for limited reciprocation between said side members; guide, means including transversely disposed over-lapping and tie members adapted to position said tongue between said side members and insure that the front surfaces of said tongue and said side members lie substantially in a common plane; pairs of REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in th file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 326,742 Iske "Sept. 22, 1885 639,489 Adams Dec. 19, 1899 958,366 Clausen May 17, 1910 2,061,499 Bode ,Nov. 17, 1936 

